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Recent News

• What Does Summer Pay Cover?
• Letter to the Administration
• Collective Bargaining 2008: Where We Stand
• Elections
• Salary Study

Summer Salary Clarification

Members of the Faculty Collective Bargaining Unit,

As a result of issues and concerns that have been brought up in our United Faculty of Florida Town Hall meetings, I thought it might be useful to review and clarify the contractual language and implications of the BOT-UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) provisions on Summer Appointments.

There have been several questions that have arisen that I will address here. First, ?What does summer appointment cover?? which translates into what are you being paid to do in the summer? Second, when you are offered an online course at what rate should you be paid? Third, what is going on in bargaining with regard to summer salary and what can we expect for next summer and the future?

First, regarding summer appointments, the CBA language is clear. The money you are paid for teaching a summer course covers instructional activities associated with that course, including holding office hours to meet with students enrolled in your course. It does not cover activities such as thesis/dissertation supervision, directed independent studies, supervised research/teaching, and supervision of student interns. If you are expected to be doing these additional activities you should expect to be compensated for them above the compensation you receive for your course(s).

Although graduate students are, in many units, required to enroll in credit hours to maintain their status and assistantships over the summer, faculty are not required by the CBA to supervise them without pay. Moreover, if you are a dissertation advisor and supervise students during the summer, you should, according to the contract, be compensated for those FTEs beyond whatever courses you are teaching. There appears to be some discrepancy across units regarding whether faculty are compensated during the summer for supervising students and whether students are required to maintain credit hours during the summer. Nevertheless, according to the CBA all faculty must be compensated for those activities above and beyond any compensation faculty may be receiving for teaching courses.

Second, regarding the compensation for online courses, during the summer faculty should expect to be compensated at the contract rate for all summer courses (whether in the classroom or online). An online course is considered in-load and compensated at the rate of 12.5% if it is the first course, 11% if it is the second course or at least $5,775 if it is the third course. If a faculty member exceeds 1.0 FTE, then an online course shall be compensated as overload at a rate of $3,000 for the first 35 students plus $90 for each additional student.

Again, we have heard of some discrepancies across units and departments regarding how online courses are being compensated this summer. If you have only been offered the opportunity to teach one course online this summer? that course should be compensated at the rate of 12.5%. Any other compensation formula would be in violation of the CBA and is grounds for a grievance. Finally, rumors are circulating regarding the current state of bargaining on supplemental summer appointments. The administration would like to save money by cutting the salary rate for the first summer course to 11.28%. This is not a proposal that the UFF could accept at a time when many faculty are not being offered a second or third course.

I hope that this letter addresses some of the concerns that faculty have and puts to rest some of the rumors that have been circulating. I encourage you to read the contract . I also encourage you to call or email me or our grievance chair, Paul Warren with any questions or concerns you may have.

Yours in solidarity,
Leslie

Leslie D. Frazier, Ph.D.
President, FIU Chapter
United Faculty of Florida
Florida International University

Letter to the Administration

April 17, 2008

President Modesto Maidique CERTIFIED/RRR
Florida International University
University Park Campus
Miami, FL 33199

Dear President Maidique

Following the recent Town Hall Meeting, it is clear the University is considering program closures, reorganizations and lay-offs in response to the anticipated budget cuts. As you know, it is essential that all those involved in the process, including FIU administrators, deans and chairs, be fully aware of the role of UFF and the rights of employees who may be affected by layoffs. Most important are the provisions of the BOT-UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 8, Layoff and Recall.

Advance Notice to UFF of Proposed Layoffs. The CBA makes it clear that before implementing layoffs, the administration must notify UFF and, at UFF’s request, discuss the proposed layoffs. Article 8.1(a) makes clear the extent of this obligation:

In the event the University determines that the number of bargaining unit employees must be reduced as a result of adverse financial circumstances; reallocation of resources; reorganization of degree or curriculum offerings or requirements; reorganization of academic or administrative structures, programs or functions; or curtailment or abolition of one or more programs or functions, the University shall notify the UFF Chapter no less than thirty (30) days prior to taking such action and, if UFF so requests, the University President or his designee(s) shall meet with UFF to discuss the layoff prior to its implementation.

Bargaining Required Prior to Use of Adjuncts to Replace Laid Off Employees. In addition to the right to discuss layoffs prior to their implementation, UFF has the right to bargain over any proposal to use adjuncts or other non-unit faculty in those departments/units where bargaining unit employees have been laid off. Such a proposal must be made to UFF in writing in advance.

Order of Layoffs. After discussion with UFF, should the university decide to implement proposed layoffs, the contract provides for the order in which employees may be laid off. No tenured employees shall be laid off if there are untenured faculty in the layoff unit. No non-tenured employees with more than five years of service shall be laid off if there are employees with five years or less of service. No employee shall be laid off to create a vacancy to be filled by an administrator entering the bargaining unit.

Required Notice to Employees. If an employee with three or more years of service is to be laid off, he or she is entitled to at least one year’s prior notice. If an employee with less than three years of service is to be laid off, he or she is entitled to at least six month’s prior notice.

Alternative University Employment. The University must make a reasonable effort to find alternate employment in the University for laid-off employees and inform those employees of the results of that effort.

Recall and Re-employment Rights. Any employee who has been laid off has recall and re-employment rights that extend for two years after the layoff.

UFF will vigorously enforce these important contract rights during this difficult period. While we fully anticipate that the administration will work diligently to comply with the contract, FIU is facing an unprecedented and difficult period. There are many individuals, both in the university administration and in our bargaining unit, who may be unfamiliar with the layoff provisions of the contract simply because we have not faced a situation like this where they have been so important.

Therefore, we must work together to avoid problems by making sure that all those who will be responsible for implementation of layoffs are fully aware of the rights and protections contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and understand their obligations to comply with its provisions.

Sincerely

Leslie Frazier
President

Collective Bargaining 2008: Where We Stand

The current BOT-UFF contract expires in July 2008. The FIU administration and UFF FIU bargaining team have met twice this month to begin bargaining the new contract and have scheduled a series of bargaining sessions in May and June. Both sides have committed to try to reach tentative agreement on a new three-year contract in time to submit it to the bargaining unit for ratification before the expiration of the current contract.

The UFF FIU has proposed a promotion process for instructors and lecturers that would provide them the opportunity for a career path and salary increases similar to their tenure-track colleagues. The FIU Administration has proposed to put parental leave on a time line that is more consistent with semester class schedules. Although initial proposals have been exchanged, no tentative agreement has been reached on either of these issues.

At this point, we still have not reached agreement on 2007-2008 salaries. UFF has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the BOT for giving out discretionary raises and awards without bargaining. Discretionary monies, which cover such things as counter-offers and special awards, must be bargained annually as part of the salary article.

Finally, the BOT has yet to respond to UFF’s proposal on implementation of the lab space reallocation policy announced at the beginning of 2008. Though the BOT informed UFF in December it would declare an impasse on this issue, the BOT has not yet taken the steps necessary to bring the impasse before the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) for resolution. UFF will continue to seek to bargain an agreement with the BOT that insures that productive faculty currently assigned lab space will not lose space or other resources necessary for on-going teaching, research and scholarly activities. View the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Elections

The results of the secret ballot election for Officers and Senators for the coming year are as follows:

Officers:

President: Leslie Frazier
VP for UP: M.O. Thirunarayanan
VP for BBC: Lauren Christos
Secretary: Amy Paul-Ward
Treasurer: James Crosby

Senators:

Benjamin Baez
Joan Baker
Lauren Christos
Elizabeth Cooper
Peter Craumer
Alan Gummerson
Aurora Morcillo
Bruce Nissen
Lisa Prugl
Brian Raue
Gene Rosenberg
Raymond Scattone
M.O. Thirunarayanan
Lorna Veraldi
Paul Warren
Marc Weinstein
Hassan Zahedi

Congratulations to those willing to volunteer time to the union, and to the Chapter for an excellent meeting.

Alan

Salary Study

Members of the Faculty Collective Bargaining Unit,

As you probably know, we are still engaged in bargaining salary increases for the 2006-2007 academic year (in addition to the 3% voted by the legislature effective October 1, 2006). The administration (representing the Board of Trustees) is offering little, on the grounds that the budget is very tight, both this year and next. We decided that the matter deserved some study, so we contracted with the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy, led by Dr. Bruce Nissen, lodged in the Center for Labor Research and Studies here at FIU, to do a follow-up to the study Dr. Nissen did for us in 2004.

The report, "Where Does the Money Go? FIU Expenditures on Faculty and Higer Level Administration in the Period from 2002--3 to 2005-06" can be downloaded from here: Download. It finds, among other interesting facts, that the number of administrators at FIU continued to increase significantly, while the number of faculty actually declined, despite the fact that tuition and fees have increased over 30% during the period studied. FTE teaching workloads have increased significantly during the same time.

The study concludes that the data reveal the true priorities of FIU, namely favoring administrators at the expense of faculty. "Students are being asked to provide ever greater amounts of money to be educated by a faculty that is both stretched ever-more thinly and provided relatively fewer of the institutions resouces."

Take a look. I think you will find the study both sound and enlightening.

This is a good example of your UFF dues money at work. If you have not yet joined UFF, an application form can be downloaded at Membership Form

Alan

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